Ronnie O’Sullivan leads Ali Carter 5-4 after the opening session of their first round match in the 2025 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Tuesday afternoon.
O’Sullivan - who is aiming for a record-breaking eighth world title in the modern era - was making his return to the professional circuit having not competed since the behind-closed-doors Championship League in early January where he deliberately snapped his cue in frustration.
Since then, O’Sullivan withdrew from several further events on the World Snooker Tour, but elected to return to action at the sport’s blue riband event, where he is making a record-extended 33rd Crucible appearance this year.
World number 18 Ali Carter - this year’s highest ranked qualifier - was O’Sullivan’s round one opponent; the two faced each other in the 2008 and 2012 World Championship finals here, with the latter winning on both occasions.
Billed as a ‘grudge match’, there didn’t appear to be any animosity in the arena as they exchanged a pleasant handshake before play commenced. The last time they encountered one another on snooker’s grandest stage came in 2018 where the famous ‘bargegate’ incident occurred and Carter registered his only career victory over O’Sullivan on a big stage.
The start of the match was a cagey one with Carter securing the first frame before O'Sullivan opened his account by pinching frame two on the final black.
'The Rocket' then went in front before compiling a break of 107 in frame four - the 1,283rd century of his professional career, and his 208th at the Crucible - to go into the mid-session interval 3-1 up.
On resumption, six-time ranking event winner Carter won frame five, and looked like levelling up at 3-3 when on a break of 60 in frame six. However, he missed a red when near the finish line, and O’Sullivan fully punished with a counter clearance of 45, to steal his second frame of the contest on the final black.
An 85 from O’Sullivan in the next frame put him 5-2 ahead, and there were signs that he could establish a big overnight lead.
However, Carter - who had been largely unconvincing up to that point - dug deep and ended the session on a high. ‘The Captain’ found his scoring boots with an effort of 107 in frame eight, and he finished his shift just one behind when he recovered from a deficit in frame nine to claim it on the colours.
A fascinating second and concluding session awaits on Wednesday afternoon from 14:30BST.
O’Sullivan wasn’t near his consistent fluent best, but that was perhaps to be expected considering his hiatus from the sport over the past few months. The 49-year-old is also using a new cue, and will likely be finding it tricky to judge in certain situations - such as his long-potting game which was off in the first session - under matchplay conditions.
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